CLAREMONT — A South Bronx principal who DNAinfo recently highlighted as a Principal of the Week is headed to the White House with a graduate from his school to speak at First Lady Michelle Obama's higher education forum.
Jeff Palladino, principal at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, will join Obama at a daylong event on March 17 to talk about community schools, which are schools that partner with an organization to help provide services to the neighborhood, according to the Department of Education.
RELATED: DNAinfo's recent interview with Palladino
He will be joined by Elvis Santana, a 22-year-old Bronxite who will speak about how he graduated from Fannie Lou and from Albertus Magnus College before taking a job with the Children's Aid Society.
"I’m a few blocks away from the White House, which makes me want to go inside even more," said Santana, "and makes me even more nervous."
Fannie Lou partners with the Children's Aid Society for programs ranging from financial literacy classes to tutoring to assistance with medical and dental care.
"A lot of the kids who are involved in our program at Fannie Lou end up applying to and getting into college," said Children's Aid Society spokesman Patrick Egan. "Jeff has always been really invested in making sure the partnership works."
Palladino is scheduled to speak in the afternoon about aspects of Fannie Lou's curriculum that have proven successful, such as the idea that students need to have enough time to dive into projects that they feel are meaningful.
"We give that to them by staying with the same teachers for two years in their first two years of high school and also by having long periods of blocks of kids working on projects," he said.
"Kids work on this innovative process of reflection and revision of their work with their teachers, too," he continued. "It helps them with the process of work and the process of understanding."
Santana will focus more on telling his own life story and how he graduated from high school and college despite growing up surrounded by what he describes as a "tough crowd."
He gives Fannie Lou a lot of credit for keeping him out of trouble and steering him towards activities like archery, noting that a personal tragedy during his sophomore year helped him stay along this path as well.
"I learned my lesson when a friend of mine passed away when he was at the wrong place at the wrong time," he said. "I could’ve been in the same place he was, but I was actually at an archery tournament."
Obama's Reach Higher initiative is meant to inspire students in America to continue their education after high school, whether at a four-year college, a community college or a professional training program.
It works to support high school counselors and help students learn more about financial aid and summer education opportunities.
This will be Palladino's and Santana's first time at the White House, and both said they were very excited about the trip.
"We’re looking forward to it," Palladino said. "It’s an honor to represent the school and The Bronx, so we’re proud."
